Biography

Professor Rory O'Connor completed his PhD at Queen's University Belfast in 1997 and then moved to Scotland where he has been ever since, most recently as Professor of Psychology at University of Stirling. He joined the University of Glasgow in July 2013 and is currently Director of the Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory and is head of the Mental Health and Wellbeing group there. He is a registered health psychologist who is broadly intererested in self-regulation processes and health outcomes. He is Past President of the International Academy for Suicide Research, past UK National Representative of the International Association for Suicide Prevention, and a member of the American Association of Suicidology. In 2014 he was elected as Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. He also serves on the Scientific Review Board of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, is Deputy Chief Editor of Archives of Suicide Research, an Associate Editor of Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, serves on the editorial board of Psychology and Health, Crisis, the Open Access Journals Suicidology Online and Psychiatry Journal. He is a member of the British Psychological Society's Division of Health Psychology (and is an accredited Stage 2 health psychology supervisor) and the European Health Psychology Society. He also sits on the Chief Scientist Office's Health Services and Population Research Grants Committee, and the Scottish Government's national suicide and self-harm implementation and monitoring group. Rory was also a member of the Guideline Development Group for the NICE self-harm guidelines (longer term management).

Research interests

Professor Rory O'Connor leads the Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory at Glasgow, the leading suicide and self-harm research group in Scotland. The overarching aim of the research conducted within the group is to apply theoretical models derived from different areas of psychology (i.e., health, clinical, cognitive and social) as well as from the social and biomedical sciences more broadly to enhance our understanding of the aetiology and course of wellbeing and distress. Professor O'Connor is also particularly interested in the application of self-regulatory models across a range of physical (e.g., cardiac disease, multiple sclerosis) and mental health problems.

Professor O'Connor is Head of Mental Health and Wellbeing Research Group.

Grants

Grants and Awards listed are those received whilst working with the University of Glasgow.

Transdisciplinary Research for the Improvement of Youth Mental Public Health (TRIUMPH) Network
Economic and Social Research Council
2018 - 2022